Remember what Microsoft did to Netscape?

Summary: Embrace, extend, extinguish. Some things never really change even if they become an old and repetitive accusation.

"Innovation has never been Microsoft's strong suite," said a Microsoft employee (antitrust trial evidence), "we're much better at ripping off our competitors. For example we did not invent either ASP or IE - we bought them."

Microsoft DOJ insider testimonies are quite powerful and they serve to remind us of things that never really changed.

Months ago we wrote about WSL, which we're seeing more and more of in news feeds when searching for "Linux" (but WSL is actually Windows Vista 10).

"So Microsoft loves Linux. It says so anyway... it will love "Linux" even more when Linux just means Azure and WSL/Vista 10.""We are going to cut off Netscape's air supply," Microsoft's Paul Maritz wrote. "Everything they're selling we're going to give away for free." His colleague Jim Allchin said that "Windows 98 must be a killer on shipments so that Netscape never gets a chance."

"Microsoft's business strategy is copy the products others innovate, put them into Windows so they can't be unplugged, and then give it away for free," Larry Ellison (Oracle) famously said.

Nowadays with UEFI 'secure boot' it's already more challenging booting and installing GNU/Linux as a standalone (or dual-boot) operating system.

So Microsoft loves Linux. It says so anyway... it will love "Linux" even more when Linux just means Azure and WSL/Vista 10. The brand "Linux" is already being diluted (not that the Linux Foundation minds) and these tactics from Microsoft go a long way back. ⬆

"The fact that there's some e-mail here at MS that says, 'let's go up and beat this guy'...there's nothing wrong with that. That is capitalism at work for consumers."

--Bill Gates on Good Morning America, 11-11-98 (covered by The Daily Telegraph, November 13, 1998)